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The headline in the Arizona Star the following day says it all: “Soggy Sunday Set A Record For Date”. Yep, we had more rain during this event day than the previous record holder on February 28, 1918.
But this didn’t stop an indefatigable group of TOC orienteers, less than half of the pre-registered orienteers for this event, from showing up in their rain gear with expectant anticipation on their faces for some orienteering fun. What we got for our exuberance was not the normal experience of orienteering in the normally dry Tucson desert. Instead, the day’s activities included exploring slippery paths alongside raging streams, ducking under dripping trees, hopping over glistening wet rock boulders, tramping through spongy dead wood, and treading quietly through acres of lush, dew-droppy green grass and edible, wild broad-leafed weed-plants. From chilly, solitary ridge lines and quiet, damp mesquite-filled valleys we watched as the frosty-white snow line descended from the high, cloudy mists circulating about the pinnacled Catalinas to the lower slopes of the nearby foothills. Again, not your typical dry, desert day!
Things hadn’t started out all that wet. There had been lavish showers before sunrise but it wasn’t raining when I began the final hanging of the control markers early morning just before the event, and I was quite hopeful that we’d be able to keep fairly dry. However, three rain-related things happened that would make it a little more than an ordinary dry orienteering day.
First, as I was hanging the last of the control markers, I noticed that the Sutherland Wash was flowing at five times it’s flow from 16 hours earlier when I hung the first set of controls. Although this wash was still crossable, I decided to add two new courses to the O menu: An “Ultra Short Green” and “Ultra Short Orange” that would give orienteers the option to avoid having to cross the wash by allowing them to skip a couple controls.
Second, the rain returned when I was about half-way through hanging controls. And then it poured. And then it never stopped raining, never.
Finally, about half-way through the event, when people were still out on the courses, the park ranger drove up in an official park service pickup truck. I suspect she was a little surprised to see our handful of cars sitting in the lonely parking area at the end of the road with a few dripping figures standing in the downpour. She came to tell us all to get out of the park now as the Canada Del Oro, which crosses the main road, was starting to flow and that our exit from the park would quickly be blocked by the rising waters.
Most of our drenched orienteers made it back from their courses in time to scurry into their cars and drive across the slowly, yet resolutely, rising waters. John Rickel, who was not orienteering that day, sped the family van across to the other side before the waters came, but the rest of his family, who were out on the courses that morning had to hoof it down the road and slosh across the watery stream on foot. Mark Parsons and Keith McLeod, who hadn’t yet started their courses, decided to call it a day and very prudently headed straight home. A few DNF’s resulted when people heard about the pending road closure and decided to come back to the finish area early.
As it turned out, only five of us didn’t make it out in time. We trudged through the waters up to our knees and left our cars behind. Two days later the waters receded, the heavy equipment removed the flow debris, and we were able to retrieve our cars under a spectacularly sunny sky.
I think that everybody who came had a good time, since it takes a certain upbeat personality to come out and play in the outdoors when it’s raining hard.
I want to thank everybody who helped: Cristina Luis for leading the training session and sign-in for Boy Scout Troop 100, Peg Davis for offering to run an orange-level O-skills clinic (which didn’t happen due to weather), and Mike Wilke and Leif Lundquist, who retrieved the controls when things finally dried out at the park. I also wish to thank the following individuals who didn’t get to participate due to the rain and flooding, but who never-the-less each made an unsolicited $4 donation to the club: Greg Hall and his guests, Keith McLeod, and Mark Parsons.
Results
Short Yellow (2.3 km, 40 m, 9 controls):
Nick Jones REC
Patrick Jones REC
Carolyn Mantell REC
George Mantell REC
Josh Mantell REC
D'Michael Thompson REC
Duane Thompson REC
Saphira Thompson REC
Suong Thompson REC
Short Orange (3.1 km, 80 m, 10 controls):
(no participants)
Ultra Short Orange (2.9 km, 40 m, 8 controls):
Elliot George 106:33
Short Green (4.2 km, 140 m, 12 controls):
Jaxon Rickel 56:20
Mike Wilke 137:55
Brad Poe DNF
Yvonne Poe DNF
Ultra Short Green (3.5 km, 110 m, 9 controls):
Jeff Brodsky 94:34
Peg Davis DNF
Claudia Rickel DNF
Jodi Rickel DNF
Margrit McIntosh REC
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